Oxfordshire: Remembering 1914-18

By Jane Cotter

World War I claimed more than 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Oxfordshire offers an intimate portrayal of the county and its people living in the shadow of World War I for five years. A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, it explores the county's regiments, the background and fate of the area's men on the frontline, the changing face of industry, the vital role of women, conscientious objectors, hospitals for the wounded and rehabilitation, peace celebrations, the fallen heroes, and war memorials. The World War I story of Oxfordshire is told through the voices of those who were there, and is vividly illustrated through evocative images.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780750957649

Book preview

This book is dedicated to the residents and

soldiers of Oxfordshire 1914–1918.

CONTENTS

Title

Dedication

Timeline

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1  Outbreak of War

2  Responding to War

3  Work of War

4  The Front Line

5  Homes Fires Burning

6  Coming Home

Postscript: Legacy

Bibliography

Copyright

TIMELINE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My grandfather was just 8 years old when his father died in France in 1917, just twelve months after he had lost his eldest brother on the Western Front. His experience echoing that of so many in the country and county.

As a child, I would frequently ask him to ‘tell me a story about the olden days’, and he would happily recount tales of his childhood growing up in The Rookery on the edge of Port Meadow in Wolvercote. Though his early years were blighted by the loss of war, his stories and memories always focused on the practicalities of life, often amusing and always told with affection. Many of these stories illustrated the resilience and fortitude of life for an ordinary Oxfordshire family during the First World War. It was thanks to these recollections that my interest in this period of history was ignited.

I am very grateful to many people for their help and guidance over the course of researching and writing this book, particularly all involved with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire – including Jim Pearson and Mike Cross for their patience in answering my endless questions – and Brigadier David Innes for taking the time to read and comment on the final draft of the book.

All those who have kindly provided images have been credited where appropriate. Any uncredited images, meanwhile, are from my collection.

Very special thanks go to my mum – as always – and my friends who stepped up for childcare duties as I shut myself away to work. The time taken by my husband Michael and my friend Lorraine Yardley to read, comment, question and correct chapters as I wrote them was greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to Stephen Barker for sharing his knowledge and expertise and guiding me throughout the process.

Last, but by no means least, I am extremely grateful to my children – Noah and Toby – for their tolerance and patience as I wrote. Their endless questions about the status of the book proved as much of a driving force to complete it as the publisher’s deadline. I would like to think that they have learned a little of their history along the way.

Jane Cotter, April 2014

INTRODUCTION

A local journalist writing for the Witney Gazette in the days directly after the declaration of war pondered, ‘I wonder what an historian in a century’s time will have to say respecting the events of the last few days’. For all that has happened over the last 100 years, it is testament to the many who made sacrifices that it is not just historians and academics who now reflect on the actions and events of the Great War.

As we now consider the events in the years during and directly after the war, and try to understand the experiences of those who lived, fought and died, we are left with little doubt that what was to become the First World War would have been beyond comprehension to those reading the news of war in August 1914.

The enduring images of the First World War – the battlefields of France and the poppies of peace – make it easy to forget that the Great War extended far beyond that; not just within the confines of geography. The lives of those on the home front were changed forever as the war brought about huge social, political and economic change.

With stories and anecdotes from First World War soldiers and civilians alike now firmly in our recorded history, we should be grateful to those who, over the years, have taken time to record and preserve these memories from which we can now draw information to illustrate and explain the experiences of the people of Oxfordshire during the First World War. The county regiments – the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry – and every town and village had its own experiences and its own story to tell. Together they paint a picture of the impact that war had on all lives, social and military, in Oxfordshire.

Geographically, Oxfordshire on the brink of war in 1914 was not much different to the county as it is today. Prior to boundary changes of 1974, the Vale of the White Horse district and parts of South Oxfordshire were in Berkshire, and conversely, the areas of Caversham (now Berkshire) and Stokenchurch (now Buckinghamshire) were in Oxfordshire. This book focuses on Oxfordshire as it was in 1914. At its centre is the historic university city of Oxford, surrounded by a mix of suburbs, farmland, market towns, rural villages and pockets of industrialisation.

As with the rest of the nation in the days leading up to to war, the county was still incredulous about the prospect of conflict with Germany. In London, the prime minister, Herbert H. Asquith (1908–1916), had already acknowledged that there was only one possible outcome to the actions and aggressions that had divided Europe. He wrote:

August 2 1914. Things are pretty black. Germany is now in active war with both Russia and France and the Germans have violated the neutrality of Luxembourg. We are waiting to know whether they are going to do the same with Belgium … Happily I am quite clear in my own mind as to what is right and what is wrong.

To the general Oxfordshire population, the historical nineteenth-century alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the 1907 alliance of France, Russia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland would have meant little. The growing hostilities between nations were reported by the local press as events without bearing on the county. Where murmurs of discontent did appear, little was done to translate the complexities of the political situation into the possible impact on the general population.

Following the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, a stark ultimatum was sent by Austria to Serbia, whose expansion and nationalism had led some of its citizens to make a series of assassination attempts on various Austro-Hungarian figures. It was never intended to be accepted and war soon broke out in the Balkans. Russia – an ally of Serbia – began to mobilise its army. What followed had a domino effect on old alliances, promises and treaties. Germany – allied to Austria – delivered ultimatums to both Russia and France and, at the beginning of August, a vast German army attacked France through neutral Belgium. Britain, obligated by the 1839 Treaty of London to secure Belgium’s neutrality in the event of an invasion, issued an ultimatum to Germany to retreat from Belgium by midnight on 3 August 1914. The response from Germany was unsatisfactory and the Foreign Office released the following statement:

Owing to the summary rejection by the German Government of the request made by His Majesty’s Government for assurances that the neutrality of Belgium would be respected, His Majesty’s Ambassador in Berlin has received his passport, and His Majesty’s Government has declared to the German Government that a state of war exists between Great Britain and Germany as from 11 p.m. on August 4th.

Oxfordshire was at war.

1

OUTBREAK OF WAR

Public Reaction to War

Such was people’s anxiety surrounding the prospect of war, that on Sunday, 2 August 1914, crowds gathered at Henley railway station in anticipation of the special editions of The Times and the Daily Mail rumoured to be arriving from the capital. The crowds were so large that rails were placed across the entrances and only travellers were permitted into the station. Each train was met with disappointment as the message was repeated: ‘No papers. All snapped up in London.’

The bank holiday passed in a cloud of tension and when news broke on the morning of Wednesday, 5 August that Great Britain had declared herself at war with Germany, the suspense was over.

Come the evening, Oxford’s streets, packed with crowds eager for news, had turned into a parade ground of patriotic demonstration. Renditions of the national anthem and ‘Rule Britannia’ could be heard across the city.

The people of Chipping Norton read the proclamations displayed outside the town hall, impatient for the news of further developments, such was the slow drip feed of information. They weren’t alone; by Thursday, 6 August, even Oxford’s mayor had yet to receive an official proclamation of war.

In Thame, excited crowds besieged the railway station awaiting the evening papers, whilst the returning Territorials from camp – following their mobilisation – caused ‘wonderment’ as they paraded in the Market Square.

The escalation of war shocked the Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard into reporting:

Who would have believed, ten days ago, that practically the whole of Europe was so soon to be involved in a great and terrible war … and Henley in common with all other parts of the country is in the throes of excitement … What the consequences will be no one can foretell.

Over the following days and weeks, public attitudes and emotions evolved daily. The initial feeling of relief from suspense was soon replaced by a mix of excitement, fear, anger and resentment. Dramatic editorials run in the local press reflected on the gravity of the situation facing country and county. On 8 August 1914, the Witney Gazette called for a united front of support:

The present state of affairs is one that cannot fail to be regarded by all as very serious. At this time all political differences has been cast aside, and the whole Empire is supporting the Mother-land in this great crisis. What the result will be no one can tell, but it is obviously the duty of everyone who is a member of the Empire to back up, in every possible way, those who are guiding the Ship of State through perilous waters.

Headline news in the Henley Standard on 7 August 1914.

Military response – The Oxfordshire Regiments

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, which since the Childers Reforms of 1881 and the later Haldane Reforms of 1908, was regarded as the ‘county regiment’. At the outbreak of war, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry regiment had two existing regular battalions, the 1st and 2nd (the 2nd Battalion was in India when war broke out), a training battalion – the 3rd, and two territorial units – the 1/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and 1/1st Buckinghamshire Battalions.

The nature of these Territorial units (including the Oxfordshire Yeomanry) meant that men usually joined their ‘home’ unit, which were recruited locally and became more recognised and supported by the community than the regulars. Though the physical requirement of recruits was the same as for the Regular Army, the recruitment age was lower, and men could join from the age of 17.

Territorial soldiers enlisted for service at home and were not obliged to serve overseas, though in the event of war, they could be called upon for full-time military service. The part-time commitment of a Territorial soldier meant that men were able to continue with their civilian jobs, as these men were, for the most part, married and employed. They undertook weekly training on Saturday afternoons and evenings, and took part in an annual two-week summer training camp.

It was during this annual camp that war was declared. Within twenty-four hours of the announcement on 4 August 1914, the 1/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and 1/1st Buckinghamshire Territorial Battalions were recalled to Oxford.

Around the city, changes were taking place in its most historic buildings. From the day of mobilisation, university